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Close up of a taco filled with breaded tempeh, tomato, onion, lettuce and orange Baja sauce.
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Vegan Fish Tacos (Fishless Tacos)

Enjoy a delicious vegan fish taco made with beer battered tempeh “fish” and a creamy vegan Baja sauce to recreate classic flavors in a fishless taco!
Course Main Course
Cuisine American-inspired, Vegan
Keyword Tempeh fish, Vegan battered fish, Vegan fish taco sauce, Vegan fish tacos
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Marinade Time not Included 0 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4 Servings
Calories 544kcal

Ingredients

Tempeh Fish Marinade

  • 170 grams tempeh
  • 1 sheet nori , cut into small pieces
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice (juice of about 1 medium lime)
  • 1 tablespoon lime zest (zest of about 1 medium lime)
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning (or seasoning salt)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ cup water

Vegan Beer Batter

Vegan Baja Sauce

To Serve

  • 6 small tortillas (flour or corn)
  • slaw mix
  • tomato , diced
  • red onion , diced
  • cilantro , chopped (optional)
  • lime wedges (optional)

Instructions

Tempeh Fish Marinade

  • Cut the block of tempeh into bite-sized pieces (or to your size preference).
    170 grams tempeh
  • Place tempeh into a container with all the marinade ingredients.
    1 sheet nori, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon lime zest, 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ cup water
  • Shake marinade around in the sealed container.
  • Place in fridge and allow tempeh to marinate for at least 1 hour (or overnight).

Vegan Baja Sauce

  • While the tempeh marinates, prepare Baja sauce and other ingredients for serving. If marinating overnight, these prepped ingredients can be stored in the fridge too.
  • To make the Baja sauce, simply mix all sauce ingredients together.
    ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ cup vegan mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon lime juice, ¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 ½ teaspoons sriracha
  • Store in a well-sealed container in the fridge until serving.

Vegan Beer Batter + Frying the Tempeh Fish

  • Place cooking oil in a small pot. The oil should be at least 1 ½ - 2 inches deep (4-6 cm). You’ll need more oil if your pot is larger. Using a smaller pot allows you to use less oil overall but does require you to fry the battered tempeh in a few batches.
    2 cup oil
  • Cover a large plate or cooling rack with a few layers of paper towel (to place the cooked fish on so excess oil can drain).
  • To make the vegan beer batter, mix together all-purpose flour, Old Bay seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.
    ½ cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Carefully pour beer into the flour mix. It will fizz; pour slowly to help prevent this (and let the fizz become trapped into the batter for a light beer batter coating).
    ¾ cup beer
  • Remove the tempeh from the marinade, picking off any nori sheets that stick to the tempeh.
  • Stir the tempeh in the beer batter until it’s well coated.
  • Heat the oil over medium-high heat. You will know it’s ready when you drop a small amount of the beer batter into the oil and it sizzles and floats to the top right away (the oil is too hot if it immediately becomes golden brown in which case the heat should be lowered).
  • Once your oil is heated, carefully place a few pieces of tempeh into the oil. Cook until all sides of the beer batter are golden brown. I use tongs to transfer the battered tempeh in and out of the oil, but a slotted metal spoon works as well.
  • When cooked tempeh comes out of the oil, place onto the paper towel covered plate.
  • Repeat the frying steps until all the beer battered tempeh fish is cooked. Adjust the heat of the oil as needed (should sizzle when going in but take about 5 minutes to be completely cooked/ golden brown).

To Serve

  • Serve the tempeh fish immediately after cooking, along with small tortillas, slaw mix, chopped tomato, chopped onion, cilantro, lime wedges and the Baja sauce made earlier.
    6 small tortillas, slaw mix, tomato, red onion, cilantro, lime wedges
  • Feel free to use whatever vegan taco toppings you like!

Notes

Accuracy of nutrition information cannot be guaranteed (certain ingredients may not have all nutrients listed in the database); amounts may vary (and will vary depending on brands of ingredients used); all nutrition fact values rounded to the nearest whole number.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Taco | Calories: 544kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 14g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Sodium: 1461mg | Potassium: 317mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 109IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 88mg | Iron: 3mg